I just installed slapt-get, but really don't understand it very well. I know that it goes out and finds packages, installs them, and is fully automatic. Now, what type of configuration is involved, and what would be the command to unpdate th e whole OS? Thanx in advance, -Bill

The configuration is basically which packages you don't want to be updated and the mirror where you'll be getting packages from. The file involved on the config is /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc.
By typing: slapt-get --update && slapt-get --upgrade
You'll be able to upgrade all the packages that have a new version on the mirror.

If i were you I would start by reading: man slapt-get
Then configuring /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc
and: slapt-get --simulate --update && slapt-get --simulate upgrade

Slapt-get is good but Swaret is better (to start out with at least)

I have been tempted to try Swaret, but discovered (and thus downloaded/have used) slapt-get first and haven't had too many problems so have kept using it. I find it extremely convenient. (There is a beta GUI interface for slapt-get called gslapt which you can use to make it easier, however I've stuck to the console due to warnings of possible screwups, afterall it's still beta. The interface looks cool though, I just haven't used it to actually upgrade. Makes package-searching and viewing installed packages a lot easier though.)

~Dav

Can you defend this assertion? Not that you're wrong, but I've only ever used slapt-get, and I'm curious why you think swaret is better.

Oh, and I did the update command, but it will not update KDE to 3.4

This is probably that the server is not doing that yet. (I changed it to 10.1 in /etc/slapt.....)

I'd say you're right...you'd have to point slapt-get to slackware-current instead of slackware-10.1 to get the latest and greatest. With Slackware, it's a pretty safe choice to stick with the -current tree. Fewer problems than most cutting-edge distros

The holy war continues....

I prefer swaret; it's search function is *much* better. When doing a search in slapt-get it always returns odd package listings that in no way could be dependencies.

I've had swaret pointing to -current for nearly a year with regular updates. No problems.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TomalakBORG
[B]Oh, and I did the update command, but it will not update KDE to 3.4

i just used swaret last night to update kde and it when by smooth. didn't try using slapt-get since im still pretty new to slackware and was told to go with swaret. but might just try it out to get a better understanding in a wide range.

I'm using slapt-get togheter with gslapt. Gslapt even check dependencies and installs them and this feature makes me stick to Slackware, because I was so determine to switch it to Debian just for this reason... But now I'll continue to use Slackware. Thank you, gslapt!

I installed slapt-get and am not sure how best to use it.

The default sources in slapt-getrc are for slackware-10.2 at slackware.com and slackpacks/10.2 at software.jaos.org. What do these do for you? Conceivably the first might be for adding packages that you just haven't installed yet and the second might be for the same packages but with patches but that's just a guess. Anybody know?

I suppose I could get the latest and greatest versions of the same packages by adding slackware-current as a source. Any comments on the dangers in doing that?

Any other thoughts on usage?

Thanks!

Basically, the jaos source is for user contributed packages. The slackware-10.2 source contains official Slackware packages.

The danger is that something might break. But, if you will be sure to read the applicable changelog and review your new config files then the risk is generally manageable. But do not consider it if you need your machine to maintain a stable environment.

Actually, the software.jaos.org source is just for programs from the slapt-get author (slapt-get, gslapt, etc). That is there so slapt-get can get updates for itself.

To get 3rd user contributed packages, you would need to add an entry for Linuxpackages.net.

Slapt get basically enables automatic installation of slackware patches. Much much easier than looking at the changelog and manually downloading and "upgradepkg *.tgz) every single one.

Gslapt basically makes it easier to do this because it makes it easier to select/deselect updates as needed. Doing it from a commandline via slapt-get or swaret means you either upgrade one package or all packages, but not a group of packages.

So if you have the slackware-10.2 directory as your source and do slapt-get --update what it returns will be all the patched packages? (I'm assuming you have 10.2 installed!)